Portland, day 3 (the big news)

Timmy and I got married!! Here are some photos to enjoy of our union at Voodoo Donuts...yes, we got married in a donut shop. (:


That's us!


Bride and Groom Voodoo style


Our wedding "cake" actually a tier of vegan donuts!


SO HAPPY!!


kissy kissy time. Look at the little kid on the left, covering his eyes. I guess we weren't quite PG.


Our wedding, first dance and the eating of our donuts took approximately ten minutes, but it was perfect for us.


Many thanks to Lucy and Kyle for being the witnesses to our love and thanks to Steve for hanging out. We had such an amazing time in Portland and we couldn't be happier. I am so very lucky to have found Tim and to share the rest of my adventurous days with him.


Raise a glass, say a toast, it is time to celebrate, I know we did!

XOXOXO,
Rikki Cupcake

Portland, day 3 (Proper Eats)

The third day is the most important of all! You will find out in a later post why, but until then here are some photos of Timmy and I freezing and getting ready to get some hot coffee, not even to drink, just to thaw out our hands. (:


I actually enjoyed the cold weather, I love winter clothes and layers. I love drinking hot coffee and taking really hot baths, so this weather was ideal for me. Timmy, not so much...


He was miserable and every five minutes said how he loved Arizona weather.

It was pretty rainy this day, almost a mist really, but enough to keep everything wet and slick. I thought it was very pretty, there was fog obscuring my vision of anything more than forty feet away or more that 15 feet in the sky. It was delightful. The first thing we did on Saturday was go get lunch. Lucy told us of this place called Proper Eats that had great "hippy" food. I was worried it would be all raw foods, and I was in the mood for hearty and warm. We were pleasantly surprised.

I ordered some garlic bread to get started and it was terrific!

Lucy enjoyed hers

Timmy too!

I took my first bite and fell in love! But if this was good, oh my the entrees were a delight!


Lucy and Tim shared the tempeh reuben and the bad brains burrito. They were both pleased with the outcome of their choices. The burrito had plantains, squash, black beans and all kinds of yummy goodness inside. The reuben was pretty tasty and was a nice change using tempeh instead of tofurkey.



I enjoyed the cornmeal crusted tempeh with quinoa, southern greens and a lime sour cream sauce. I ate the whole thing it was so good!


Mr. Toast!

After that we picked up kitty food and booties for Adelaide so she can run on our laminate flooring,

saw a door with many knobs and then went home to prepare...

Portland, day 2 (Bridge of the Gods and Dove Vivi)

When Timmy and I ate all of our goodies at Back to Eden and Lucy was done being her awesome self with Meals on Wheels we packed a lunch and planned a day time hike. We traveled north and headed to the gorge to take in some fresh air and to hike around some gorgeous waterfalls. The only problem, it was freezing and Timmy and I have thin Arizona blood, so we ended up driving around and stopping for some photos, then piling back into the warm car.


the gorge!



These waterfalls were beautiful and the closer you got to these wonders the colder it got too. So unfortunately we didn't stay that long.


Bridge of the Gods. Portland on the left, Washington on the right. We drove into Washington, parked the car and enjoyed our field roast sandwiches. We ate half our food outside and the other half inside of a heated car. We were wussies and didn't pack nearly enough warm clothes, but thank goodness for heaters huh?

We went home added layers to our clothes then went out to dinner with Lucy and Kyle, their sweet roommate Natalie and our friend Steve. We went to Dove Vivi, the best pizza place in Portland. They offer two delicious Vegan pizzas on their menu, one with corn, cashew cheese and a roasted bbq sauce, and the other (my favorite) and eggplant, mushroom and tofu ricotta pie. They all have cornmeal crusts which make them crispy and add a fantastic texture to the dish.



not the best pictures here, but it was dark in there and I hate using my flash, so this is the end result. I can tell you though the pizzas were great, the best I have had at a restaurant.


Steve and Natalie


Lucy and Kyle

We had a really great night, and headed home a bit early to prepare for our big day, day three in Portland.

Portland, day 2 (Back to Eden)

Oh Portland, how I love you so. You have showed me the joy of seasons, wearing multiple layers and faux cheese. I have had the pleasure of Vegan pumpkin lattes, truffles, corn dogs and reubens that it is so hard for me to sit here in Arizona typing this when all I want to do is hop on a plane and see you again. I miss you my dear city...

Ahem, uh so anyway this is what happened on day two. Timmy and I awoke thankful for our heating blankets and space heater. We dressed warmly and were dropped off on Alberta street to walk around and wander around appreciating all that Portland has to offer. Meanwhile, Lucy was delivering Meals on Wheels (isn't she amazing?) and Kyle was hard at work lubing up bike chains. So what did Timmy and I do? We ate of course at Back to Eden Bakery.


Back to Eden was amazing and the girl working there was so sweet and genuinely nice that we felt at home immediately. We ordered a large array of things and all of the food was over the top tasty!


look how cute it is inside. It is a little place but it slowly started filling up with hungry vegans looking for some good grub.




I could have eaten all of this, no really, I could have.


Pumpkin Whoopie pies and tarts, oh my!


their adorable menu, if it wasn't freezing I could have gone for some ice cream


Timmy checkin' himself out while waiting on his delicious caramel apple cider drink.


we ate a quiche with tempeh, broccoli and mushrooms. We quickly followed the quiche with...


a slice of pumpkin streusel pie. Holy fuck this was good, yes, it merits a fuck word. (:


we ate ALL of it!


Now we are happy and ready for whatever awaits us.

Stay tuned for more of day two...

Portland, day 1

Tim and I took off for Portland at 4:15am. We were both tired and cranky but still pretty excited for our adventures to begin. We got to the airport so early none of the coffee shops were open yet...yikes!

here we are just you know flyin' all crazy high in an airplane


if you ever fly to Portland from Phoenix, always sit on the left side so you get a good view of Mt Hood. Beautiful!

We were starving so after Lucy picked us up the first thing we did was get breakfast. If you have been to Portland than you know there are vegan food options everywhere you turn. Vegan breakfast is a hard thing to come by in Arizona so were were hopping around like bunnies with thoughts of a good warm breakfast. We went to the Vita Cafe and stuffed food into our faces at an alarming rate.

Lucy and Timmy


us!

There were so many different things to choose from I found it impossible to make up my mind.I eventually chose french toast because it had been quite some time since I had it and it did sound quite appetizing, and holy un-cow it was fantastic!



Timmy and I shared biscuits and gravy with biscuits so fluffy and gravy so tasty it made me think of the breakfasts my Grandma made every Sunday.


Timmy needed more biscuits in his life and had the sloppy biscuit sandwich with faux turkey and a slab of tofu. I had a taste and it was yummy!

After breakfast we went to Lucy and Kyle's adorable house and picked up Midge their super cute puppy. We drove to Mt Tabor and took a little hike and checked out all of the trees and plants that we do not witness here in the desert.

Midge!


This is a normal sized leaf here


stunning, isn't it?



After that we went to the Vegan mini mall and picked up some tasty goodies to bring to our friends in Phoenix. We went to Food Fight! an all vegan grocery store and to Herbivore Clothing. I was tempted to buy one of everything but since I had only one small suitcase I had to curb my spending. I was happy to pick up some Dandies and some white chocolate from Food Fight! and some buttons and such from Herbivore.

mini mall

Later when Lucy had to go to work and Kyle was done working we went to the Bye and Bye, and all vegan bar! Fuck yeah, vegan bar!! I was so excited I failed to take pictures of our food, but I had the Weeping Tiger a super spicy tofu sandwich that was delightful and Timmy had a BBQ tofu sammie. The we got to drinking and photo taking...


Timmy

Kyle

We were a bit chilly but we had such an amazing first day the cold was forgotten. I love Portland and if I had it my way I would be moving there, today!